Bunker Family

Mary Hawthorne White was born on October 26, 1869 in Needham, Massachusetts, the only daughter of Judge George White and Frances Mary Edwena Noyes. She attended Newton High School for one year and then was tutored for several years by the author, Gamaliel Bradford. Mary Hawthorne White graduated from Radcliffe, magna cum laude in English and Greek with the first class to receive Radcliffe degrees in 1894. In June 1897, she married Clarence Alfred Bunker, a lawyer, and they had three children, all of whom attended Harvard or Radcliffe.

Mary Hawthorne White Bunker was a member of the Radcliffe College Alumnae Association, serving as her class secretary from 1929. She prepared and published a history of the class of 1894 in 1952. She was involved in the College Club (Boston, Mass.), and was active in the Wellesley Women's Club, Wellesley Council, and was one of the organizers of the Wellesley Historical Society (Wellesley, Mass.). In addition, she was involved in the Wellesley Society of Artists, the Wellesley Red Cross, the Consumer's League of Massachusetts, the Nantucket Historical Association, and the American Unitarian Association. She was also the organizer of the first Girl Scout troop in Wellesley, and in 1948 the Wellesley Girl Scout Day Camp was named after her in honor of her work. At the time of her death in 1960, Mary Hawthorne White Bunker was assistant registrar of the Council and a Golden Eagle of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America.

Helen Cordelia Bunker, sister-in-law of Mary Hawthorne White, was born on August 6, 1880 in Roxbury, Massachusetts. She attended Girls' Latin School (Boston, Mass.) and graduated from Radcliffe College in 1902. After graduation, she took courses in stenography and typewriting at the Boston Commercial School, receiving her diploma in April 1903. From there she went on to work as a secretary for LeBaron Russell Briggs. Just a year later, however, Helen Cordelia Bunker was taken suddenly ill, and died in 1904. In 1926, the Helen Cordelia Bunker Fund was established from her estate by her brother, Clarence Alfred Bunker, to be jointly administered by the Dean of Radcliffe, and by the Radcliffe College Mothers and Daughters Club. The money was used to make small contributions to Radcliffe women who were struggling financially.

Miriam Hawthorne Bunker was born in Wellesley Hills (Mass.). She was the only daughter of Mary Hawthorne White Bunker '94 and Clarence Alfred Bunker '89. She attended Walnut Hill School (Natick, Mass.), and Girls' Latin School (Boston, Mass.) before attending Radcliffe in 1922.

After her graduation from Radcliffe in 1926, Miriam Hawthorne Bunker joined the staff of Massachusetts General Hospital as a volunteer tutor in the children's cardiac clinic. In 1929 she obtained a certificate from Bragart and Stratton Commercial School and in 1930, joined the social service department of the hospital. She retired from Massachusetts General Hospital in 1976, after 50 years there.

Miriam Hawthorne Bunker was a member of the Wellesley Historical Society (Wellesley, Mass.) and was also active in Girl Scouting.

From the guide to the Papers, 1889-1976, (Radcliffe College Archives, Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute)